Thursday, 15 August 2019

 Dr KIEU (South Eastern Metropolitan) (09:55): A few weeks ago I was joined by parliamentary colleagues Luke Donnellan, Gabrielle Williams, Pauline Richards and Gary Maas along with the federal member for Bruce, Mr Julian Hill, to tour the under-construction Asylum Seeker Resource Centre site in Dandenong, where a new centre is being set up in addition to the established centre in Footscray. ASRC provides many supporting services and resources to asylum seekers who are waiting to have their refugee status determined. These range from material aids to Foodbank and community meals programs. It also offers primary health services as the largest facility of its kind in Australia, even to people without access to Medicare. Its education programs assist hundreds of people to improve their English and to become enrolled into training and professional development courses. Then there are also employment and empowerment pathways programs, paid internships, network building and business coaching.

The human rights law program helps people at all stages of the refugee determination process. Detention advocacy works with people in onshore and offshore detention to provide emotional support, information and referrals to legal services. Despite the incessant federal Liberal cuts to vital asylum seeker services, the organisation is pushing ahead, bolstered by the goodwill of the community. The state government has recently contributed $3 million to ensure that asylum seekers receive vital services. As I was once an asylum seeker myself, I am very much proud to be a member of the Andrews Labor government.